


Yesterday

by therustykage



Series: The Psycho and the Assassin [6]
Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, BL3 and Krieg's DLC 4 SPOILERS, Developed Friendship, Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, Just want to bring love to these two!, M/M, Male Zer0, Mention of Character Death, My Headcanon and some theories, Post BL3, Rare Pairings, Romance, Sexual Content, the masks come off!, time skip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-19 02:02:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 19,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29992212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/therustykage/pseuds/therustykage
Summary: x[BL3 and Krieg's DLC 4 SPOILERS!]Seven years have passed since Zer0 and Krieg shared an intimate friendship but remained good friends. Six months after the events of the Great Vault, Krieg agrees to let Tannis help him, which changes his world forever. And when Zer0 and Krieg finally see each other again, they learn how good they really are together and that the passion they once shared was only buried beneath the surface.(A/N: Based on the AU idea that Krieg and Zer0 shared a FWB kind of relationship back in their BL2 days. 5 previous stories in this series build to this time skip. Enjoy the crazy headcanons!)
Relationships: Krieg & Zer0 (Borderlands)
Series: The Psycho and the Assassin [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1844674
Comments: 12
Kudos: 14





	1. Chapter 1

**xx**

**xx**

The board meeting in progress faded away long ago as Zer0 gazed over the Promethean city from the top floor of the Atlas Headquarters. Not even the molten sunset creating a skyline of captivating beauty could shake the ex-vault hunter's mind from a call he received over an hour ago.

"Okay, well… I guess that wraps up our monthly performance analysis and the proposed installment of a new Lazy River Land – _which is so exciting!_ I know it's taken a few months to get on this project but worry not ladies and gents, it will be _better_ than the previous one," pledged Rhys Strongfork, the CEO of Atlas, to a group of smartly dressed men and women.

Superficial nods and murmurs rippled among the board members seated around a long table inside a very opulent boardroom – a style that reflected the entirety of the Atlas Corporation, even down to the design of its weapons.

Caught up in his bubble of felicity over the project and oblivious to the disinterest of his fellow board members, Rhys reassured, "I'll have my top agent here go over the security details to make sure nothing like _that_ ever happens again. Right, Zer0?"

All heads turned towards the tall figure decked out from head to toe in off-white and dark grey armour. He stood before the windows with his arms crossed and back to them. They knew him as Rhys's right-hand man, who was often part of these meetings but never sat down at the table, preferring to stand nearby like some kind of ghost.

Normally, Zer0 answered when spoken to but today he did not seem to be paying attention.

The CEO sounded perplexed as he tried again. "Uh… Zer0? _Hello…?_ "

Still, the mysterious agent invariably concealed behind a long dark faceplate, did not respond. The men and women turned their heads back on the now squirming leader of the Atlas Corporation.

Rhys gave them an awkward chuckle, lifting his cybernetic left arm to scratch uneasily at the back of his neck with mechanical fingers.

"Right. Well… uh… meeting adjourned. You all have a great evening now. Thanks for coming out," he told everyone.

The end of this meeting also signalled the end of a workday and casual chitchat broke out between the board members pushing their chairs back and getting to their feet. Many spoke about getting a drink or groaned about how they still had a few things left to do in the office before wrapping up their day.

As soon as everyone was gone, Rhys looked over at Zer0 with a hrmph. Bewildered by his unresponsive behaviour, which was so unlike him, he raised his voice in an attempt to wake Zer0 up from his stupor.

"Uh… _yooo-hooo?_ " Rhys sing-songed. "Hey! Buddy! _Bro!_ " 

Zer0's helmet lifted. He uncrossed his arms and turned around to find the boardroom empty and the meeting over. The only person still here was Rhys. The man had his one human brown eye and left blue ECHO eye implant, fixed on him questionably. The executive stood with his arms crossed over his dark vest and a red tie, mimicking Zer0's stance from earlier, running his fingertips along the sides of his bushy moustache.

"My apologies," Zer0 said to his employer and friend, sounding somewhat surprised to be caught unawares. "Were you talking to me, Rhys? / I was out to lunch."

"Yeah. _Wow._ No kidding…" Rhys said candidly and gave an airy laugh. He sounded a bit sore about being put on the spot like that in front of his board. "I was telling everyone that you and I would go over some security details on this new project – but… we can do that later. I mean, there's no threat of space lasers in the forecast anytime soon, right?" He twittered dryly at his joke.

Then Rhys put his hands in his pockets and said more seriously, "Err… I can tell you have something else on your mind."

The CEO walked over and peered out the window standing next to Zer0. He always loved the breathtaking view of the city from up here no matter how many times he saw it. Promethea was a thriving urban jungle utilizing some of the best technology anywhere in the galaxy.

"Let me guess. It's about _him_ isn't it?" Rhys asked.

Not surprised by that question, Zer0 simply answered. "It is."

"Look," Rhys said, "Doctor Tannis came to me for some materials to build a sophisticated drive, something that would allow the virtual containment of a person's mind. Of course, I helped her out since I am indebted to the Crimson Raiders for all their support with the whole Maliwan invasion thing. She never said what her intentions were with that drive, but… I couldn't help but overhear your call with Moxxi just before our meeting started – it's for Krieg."

"It would appear so," Zer0 murmured. "He's on Sanctuary now / working with Tannis."

Rhys sighed and grasped the situation, " _And_ you are just finding out about it."

When Zer0 took on the task of helping Rhys rebuild the Atlas Corporation so many years ago, secrets between them became scarce. As good friends and faithful colleagues, Rhys was one of the few he spoke openly to about his personal life, a man he trusted to keep what he looks like under the helmet a secret.

It was only fitting that a CEO knew _exactly_ who was working for him.

Zer0 liked Rhys. He was a good man with a solid plan and he saw a bright future with this restructured Atlas. It felt good to part of that, to be the muscle behind it. Rhys was witty and intelligent, funny even. Zer0 would be lying if he said he did not enjoy how the man held him in such high regard.

At times, it felt like he was working for his number one fan. How cool was that?

Over the years, they became like family, like brothers, and it felt good to be part of that also. Having a place and a purpose was rewarding, cleaning up Rhys's problems, fun. Of course, when the Crimson Raiders needed his help, he was there for them, too. Zer0 might not be a vault hunter anymore or an assassin for hire, but a part of him would always be a Crimson Raider.

"Why don't you go over to Sanctuary and see how he's doing, then? Get a status update. I bet he'd like to see you when it's all over," Rhys suggested. "If I need you for anything, I'll call you."

Zer0's shoulders lowered a fraction with a heavy sigh. "I should be there but—"

"You're worried about the outcome?" Rhys offered, knowing just where Zer0 was going with that. He sighed, too. Yeah… he knew the feeling, unknowing outcomes sucked. They sucked big hairy skag balls he thought, which sourly reminded him of his own unknown outcomes with _her_.

Zer0's blank visor turned to his shorter comrade. "Yes, very much so. / I have waited seven years… / for something like this."

Rhys let out a low whistle. "That's kinda a long time, buddy. But, hey… sometimes the best things are worth waiting for, right? Look at how long we worked at getting Atlas back on its feet, huh? Didn't happen overnight. Now, look at it."

Underneath his helmet, Zer0 smiled. For Rhys, he displayed the smile as a red digital emoticon emblazoned in front of his visor **:)**

"So… um… let me get this straight. Y-you, talk to Moxxi about relationship stuff?" A part of Rhys felt greatly surprised by that. He did not think Zer0 a chatterbox, going around telling everyone whom he used to sleep with. "She must _love_ that."

Zer0 shook his head faintly, a soft laugh escaping him at the sarcasm in Rhys's tone.

"Let's just say she is / quite perceptive when it / comes to deviance," Zer0 explained, almost as if he was giving Rhys a piece of advice should he ever try to outwit Moxxi.

All it took was one reckless dalliance in Moxxi's bar restroom with Krieg and she was on to them, on to their secret. He should have known better, but he was drunk, and playing by the rules was for suckers. She never told a soul, but she did confront Zer0 about it years ago. Around the time, he was doing a job for her, hunting for sweet little Gortys. Zer0 did not deny or agree with her when she did, but from the playful smirk on her face, it was obvious she knew the truth.

"Fear not, my good friend. / Trust is quite a fragile thing. / You have mine, fully," Zer0 vowed.

Rhys looked visibly relieved to hear that.

He recalled the time when Zer0 told him about his past _friendly_ friendship with Krieg. He almost laughed in his face at first. Almost choked on the coffee he was drinking. His cheeks turned beet red. It was all just _wow_. Zer0 had to be pulling his leg.

However, the way that the assassin talked about the psycho ex-vault hunter, the way he expressed how much he hated that Krieg was holed-up alone – believing he could fix everything by himself in solitude, waiting desperately for Maya's return. Zer0 shared with him how he reassured Krieg many times that he had friends willing to help him. But, at the time, the man did not seem willing to hear _any_ of that.

Rhys never heard Zer0's voice filled with that kind of emotion before. The guy cared about Krieg a lot. The revelation was an eye-opener, to say the least.

Then Maya's grave sacrifice happened.

His top agent never hid the fact that he made routine visits to Konrad's Hold on Pandora to 'check up on a friend' from time to time. Curious one day, Rhys traced Zer0's whereabouts to exactly that location. He only traced it once and never did so again. He, too, trusted Zer0 inexplicably and he admired his loyalty to an old friend, which often made Rhys think of his buddy Vaughn.

However, like all friendships, Zer0's was tested.

Rhys remembered the day Maya was killed at the hands of those Calypso twins. He had never heard Zer0 curse so vehemently before. The assassin vanished in a rush to locate Krieg before the man could witness her death shown repeatedly on television screens all over the galaxy. Rhys did not envy Zer0 that day. He could not imagine being the one to tell someone like Krieg that the woman he loved was gone, taken in such a horrendous way.

Those sick twisted twins and their sick twisted games. Rhys was glad they were finished. Man, sometimes life could be so cruel and merciless, he thought.

"I hear there will be… / an extraction once it's done. / Who will he be then?" Zer0 said with concern. This is what bothered him the most, wondering if he was about to lose the friend he has come to accept just how he was, psycho side and all. If separated, where would Krieg's personalities end up?

"Yeah. I don't know how to answer that one, Zer0. Anything is possible. I never met Krieg so I don't know what to expect, really. All you can do is hope for the best," Rhys replied, hoping to ease the assassin's mind.

"Hesitation is / a warrior's certain end. / I have butterflies," Zer0 confessed

Just then, someone else in the room gasped.

Rhys and Zer0 spun around to find Lorelei standing in the boardroom doorway with a folder clutched between their hands. Their light-coloured eyes widened behind the smear of hot pink makeup they wore.

"What the bloody hell, Zer0?" Lorelei demanded in a heavy English accent. "Those are words I never expected to hear from you. Whatever it is you're lollygaggin' about I say get your scrawny ass outta here and go knock the wankers _dead!_ "

Zer0 straightened his shoulders as if someone had taken a pot shot at him. Suddenly, he displayed a **< 3** in front of his helmet. "Precisely," he said deeply. "Thank you, Lorelei."

With that, the assassin vanished from the office, the blue silhouette he left behind winking out a moment later.

"Huh. I dunno what that was all about. Is Atlas under attack again or something?" Lorelei wondered and then joked. "How dare they, I haven't even had my fill of coffee for the day yet."

The CEO gave a goofy chuckle. "Oh, no, it's nothing like that. It was a… personal matter," Rhys granted.

"Hold on. A 'personal matter'… that guy has a _personal matter_?" Lorelei said incredulously shifting a lock of their teal-streaked hair out of their face. "Huh. Now that's juicy."

Rhys realized too late that he had already said too much.

Lorelei's expression turned stricken then. "Wait. If it was a personal matter… did I just encourage him to do something incredibly stupid? I believe there was a mention of butterflies if I'm not mistaken."

"I assure you, you didn't," Rhys replied with confidence. "You took care of that faster than I did."

Lorelei looked relieved to hear it. "And… you're not even going to tell me what that was about, are you?" They said with a huff.

"It's… it's not for me to say," Rhys explained unable to stop a blush from warming his cheeks this time. Deep down he did not think Zer0 was completely over Krieg. Being a good friend was one thing but Rhys knew when he heard it. There was only one thing that made people crazy – made them act out of the norm and Zer0 was just as susceptible to it as anyone else. Maybe the assassin did not even realize it. Maybe he was afraid to admit it.

Finding his inner strength, Rhys steeled himself. "Now, what did you want to talk to me about, Lorelei? Can't you see that I'm a busy guy around here?"

Lorelei smirked when they saw their boss blushing and suddenly sounding defensive, but… mum was the word. Whatever was going on they knew they would find out about it eventually. The galaxy was a big place but the power of gossip was even bigger.

*********

It always felt odd when Zer0 travelled to Sanctuary III, a massive ship dutifully named after its predecessors. Sometimes he could not wrap his head around the fact that the old Sanctuary on Pandora was gone. He liked the previous floating city of Sanctuary, just as he liked Pandora – missed both places actually.

There were so many good memories there.

However, the ship had everything the old Sanctuary had from shops to a bar, plenty of places to sleep, a communal living space in a maze of hatches and steel corridors. It accommodated many individuals from all over the galaxy, people banding together to create an interstellar force called the Crimson Raiders.

The bottoms of Zer0's armoured boots clanked against the metal frame as he climbed up the stairs leading to the medical center on Deck A. Unsure what he was about to discover, tension grew tighter between his shoulders with each step. At the top, he faced the reddish glow coming from the sign outside of the medical center.

But, he dare not go inside.

Instead, he wandered down a small hallway at the far end just outside of the infirmary. A large window from that corner gave him a full view of the inside. He leaned back against a large container in the hallway and crossed his arms.

It was just how he imagined it in his mind – Krieg stretched out on a table in the middle of the room, while Dr. Patricia Tannis hovered nearby conducting the procedure. Zer0 noted all the electrodes attached to his body and some wild contraption fixed around Krieg's head emanating a deep purple light. From where Zer0 stood, he could see Tannis's mouth moving as she chirped orders through the ECHO system.

From out here, he could only hear murmurs. He wondered if she was speaking to Krieg or the vault hunters currently running around in his planetary brain space.

Zer0 did not understand how it all worked but he knew it allowed the present vault hunter's access into Krieg's mind as if it was just another location on the map. What he did know was that Krieg agreed to let Tannis probe his mind for secrets related to psychos and various other scientific inquiries, so that in return, she fixed his dual personality issue.

At least, that is what Moxxi explained to him when she called. What the end results would be was anyone's guess.

It has been six months since Maya's death and Krieg disappeared for the same amount of time. Understanding that he needed that time to process his loss, Zer0 had not seen or spoken to him since the day he told him the grim news. Nevertheless, he knew that Krieg would resurface eventually.

He just never expected this.

Zer0 was thankful that Moxxi gave him a heads up. It felt right to be here and he had nothing but confidence with Tannis. If anyone could help Krieg, it would be her.

"It's kind of crazy what that doctor woman can do, right? Git inside the head of a person's mind and all – dig up all their dirty lil' secrets." A female voice spoke with a drawl that could only be from The Dust region of Pandora.

Zer0 blinked when he realized someone was talking to him.

He shifted an expressionless faceplate to find the mechanic Ellie, the late Scooter's sister, and Moxxi's daughter, standing next to him. She was a short, heavy-set woman in a pair of dark overalls with the largest bosoms he had ever seen. One of the most brilliant mechanics he knew and a much-respected ally. He admired her ruthless nature when it came to her enemies – known to toss a bandit or two into a skull-smashing junkyard crusher from time to time and smile about it.

"Had to come and git me a sneak peek at what's goin' on with our boy, Krieg. I'm surprised to see you here though." She said much too cheerfully.

For some reason, her last comment rubbed him the wrong way. "Where else would I be?" Came his retort and Zer0 kicked himself mentally for sounding so moody, telling himself that Ellie did not mean it like that. He softened his tone. "It appears as if, he is /doing fairly well."

If Ellie heard the sarcasm, she did not give any indication and replied thoughtfully. "Oh, you can just tune into the whole thing on your ECHO now that you're on Sanctuary and find out for yerself, cutie," she said. "It's _real_ brave of Krieg to put all of his deepest, darkest memories on display like that for just anyone to see – steel pair that one has, the crazy sumbitch. Can't say I'd be eager to let ya'll traipse around inside my head, _nooo_ sir."

Indeed, it was brave of him, Zer0 thought, the crazy sumbitch – he found himself flashing Ellie a smile **:)** for that one.

Even though it was tempting to turn on his ECHO and tune into the mission, he could not. A part of him felt that Krieg deserved that bit of privacy, that sense of self. The vault hunters were there to do a job, he was not.

As curious as he was to learn everything he could about his friend and his dark past, Zer0 did not want to cheat. He wanted to hear Krieg's tale in his words from his mouth – no matter what form it may come from when this was all over.

"I'll keep that in mind," he told Ellie so she would not press the issue. "Mostly, I wonder how long / this process will take."

"Who's to say," Ellie answered, "Could be hours. Maybe the whole day. I hear there's a vault and Krieg is helping them open it. Gawd knows what they'll find. Also heard another rumour – something about living in a mayonnaise jar. What do you think that's all about, huh?"

"I… uh, no idea…" Zer0 was just as baffled and pushed the idea _far_ from his mind. "A vault you say… now that _is_ / quite interesting."

"You bet, sugar." Then, Ellie sighed. "I sure do wish Lilith were here to see this."

Zer0 was not sure how to respond to that. The struggle with the Calypso twins took down some of their closest friends and everyone still felt the sting.

Ellie continued to prattle on about this and that and before long Zer0 zoned out, thankful for the distraction. She did not seem to mind his silent company though, happy to talk to anyone within range.

However, time seemed to crawl.

It was as if nothing was happening, Krieg did not move on the table and Tannis was still hard at work. Yet, hours had passed by. After a while, Ellie was gone and Zer0 stood alone.

Standing around waiting for something to happen was torture. He had to move. Had to go and do something. Anything.

Zer0 pushed himself off the container and headed for his office downstairs. Along the way, he stopped to grab a hot tea from Moxxi's bar. She had a convenient section near the entrance that allowed people to grab non-alcoholic beverages of choice.

It was such a step up from the old bar in his opinion.

Not in the mood to talk, he simply gave Moxxi a congenial wave 'hello' when he wandered in. She nodded at him knowingly, the look in her eyes spoke volumes, but she said nothing.

Zer0 grabbed his reusable cup and carried on with his business.

His office was wall-to-wall computers and controls with the back wall plastered with wanted posters of awful people he deemed worthy targets for assassination. At heart, he would always be an assassin, but since he did not often partake in that line of work these days, he found a delightful way to orchestrate them. Zer0 offered good money to anyone willing to take out the scourge for him.

It was kind of fun working between Sanctuary and Atlas, even though he often missed doing fieldwork and getting his hands dirty. It made him think about Krieg and how much fun they used to have hunting and killing bandits, often trading weapons just for the thrill of having fresh means to slaughter _more_ bad guys.

With a sigh, he stared at the posters and sipped his tea through a straw, stuffed mysteriously into his helmet.

*********

To say that everything felt different when Krieg returned to the sanctity of the infirmary would be an understatement. Inside, he felt an eerie inner calm. Yet, also a sense of exhaustion that weighed on him like a heavy blanket. It felt like he had one of those dreams that left you more exhausted upon waking up as if you never slept at all. Not surprising after he had mentally run, what felt like, a thousand miles.

The first thing he saw was a group of faces all looking down at him, watching him tentatively as if he might suddenly spring up and attempt to hack them to pieces with his buzz-axe. He gazed at them with his good left eye darting from face to face.

He recognized the vault hunters and Dr. Tannis who had helped him in ways he never thought possible.

The ordeal was all over.

Free of medical equipment, Krieg sat up and took a brief moment to pat over his chest, reassuring that, he was still the same person.

Still half-naked except for the distinctive orange pants with amour strapped to his legs. Check. The psycho mask was still intact and secure to his face. Check. The rest of his armour, including his buzz-axe lay strewn across a table to his left. Check and check.

Everyone began talking at once and Krieg could only scoff at the excited chatter. It was kind of amusing and endearing. Together, with their help, he was a new man, a new man with a sense of resolve and _much-needed_ closure.

"I fear that if you make us wait any longer, Krieg, I will assume you are still as nutty as when we first started all of this," Tannis proclaimed sounding somewhat annoyed he kept her waiting. She was only partially serious.

"Hey, boyo!" Zane clapped a hand to Krieg's shoulder friendly-like. His Irish accent was thick, his laughter, genuine. "Nice to see ya back on _this_ side of the playing field."

The shutter of FL4K's lone yellow eye blinked at Krieg a couple of times, the hood of their big heavy coat shrouding their robot face. "You have returned to the hunt once more, Krieg. I am most happy to see it."

Moze simply acknowledged Krieg with a grunt but she wore a satisfied look on her face that was welcoming.

"I'm glad we could rid you of that savage tyrant," the brawny siren Amara told him. "It was a pleasure to be of service."

 _Go ahead take the first waltz,_ psycho Krieg encouraged inside a mind they now shared. _Right, okay. Here goes nothing…_ sane Krieg answered him as they decided who would speak first.

Krieg took a deep breath.

"I guess I should start with the most important thing first… thanks." He paused for a moment, marvelling at hearing his normal voice coming out of his mouth for the first time in ages.

Afterward, the psycho chuckled whimsically from the same mouth.

Everyone watched him waiting to hear a little more.

Krieg continued. "Knowing what you saw… I feel kinda embarrassed right now," he told them.

"Like freshly slaughtered MEAT," growled the other Krieg. "The blood's still dripping—"

" _But_ – we could not have done it without you, and for that, we're grateful," Krieg added thoughtfully. "I know being a vault hunter is not for the faint of heart and you four are _bad-_ ass," he praised. "Damn. You took out that giant goon like a pro."

The vault hunters nodded and looked at each other smugly, feeling proud of the job they did.

"Well!" Tannis said amiably, "Seems like you two have found a resolution after all. Both the psycho and the sane inhabiting one body in what appears to be perfect harmony. And you are sure this is okay with the both of you? If you change your mind—"

 _"We won't."_ Krieg quickly cut off the siren doctor before she could finish. "Not after what he did for me. The other guy. He was just confused. Lost. But now that _thing_ inside of us is gone. Everything will be different."

Psycho Krieg let out a happy yowl feeling a burst of pride at how his sane side spoke of him. "Friends forever!"

For everyone in the room, it was extraordinary to see two distinct personalities expressed from one man, but Krieg was not nearly as anomalous as some of the weird shit they have encountered in this galaxy.

And it certainly will not be the last.

"That is fantastic." Tannis seemed relieved to hear such conviction in Krieg's voice. "If you are anything like me, I am sure you want to _run_ , not walk, as far away from this infirmary as you can right now. I encourage that you do so."

With that, the four vault hunters took the cue to make their exit. Each of them wished Krieg well before leaving the medical center.

Krieg swung his legs off the examination table and let his booted feet drop to the floor with a thud. He stood and headed for the table close by with the rest of his equipment on it. He slipped on his leather bracer, secured his gauntlets, and then picked up his buzz-axe. He turned it this way and that as if he had never seen it before.

Manic laughter rumbled out of Krieg's throat. "My old friend…"

"Oh! Speaking of old friends... the one that has turned killing people into an art form loitered around here for a few hours," the small dark-haired siren doctor mused sarcastically. "I think he thinks I did not notice him, but I assure you that I did." She picked up a weird-looking metal sphere lit up with bright bars of colour sticking out of it like a 3D model of a futuristic virus.

At that news, Krieg looked over sharply at Dr. Tannis. "Zer0 was here?" he asked somewhat eagerly. "Where can I find him?"

Tannis carried the sphere to the back of the infirmary and set it down on a table. Looking over at Krieg, she said, "Simply head down towards the cargo bay and make a left."

*********

With a sense of false security, all thanks to the obscurity provided by his helmet, Zer0 gave in to a deep cavernous yawn. The kind of yawn that made his eyes water and gave his chest muscles a satisfying stretch.

He thought about checking up on Krieg again. See if anything changed.

Full of restless energy, Zer0 swished the dregs of his tea around inside the cup he held. He stuck the straw he had been using inside the small opening of the lid. Turning around, he set the empty cup down on top of a control panel, and only then, noticed someone standing in the doorway.

"Krieg!" he clamoured with a start.

"Uh, hey there… Zer0. I… I was told I might find you down here."

For a hot second, Zer0 thought he was looking at an illusion but quickly told himself to stop being ridiculous. Yet, it was difficult not to think he was dreaming, especially after hearing the soft-spoken baritone of Krieg's voice stringing together a completely coherent sentence.

Suddenly everything felt kind of awkward and surreal. Neither one of them made a move, remaining grounded in the spot they stood, just watching each other.

They both scoffed uncertainly.

Zer0's took in the sight of his friend. His muscular form looking as solid and imposing as ever with that deadly-looking buzz-axe propped over his right shoulder. Krieg's mask was similar to his old one but newer and had more supportive straps that held it snug to his head. It was still white with that upside-down orange 'V' with the right eyehole patched over. However, the design of this new mask gave Krieg the impression he wore a permanent scowl, which only served to make him look even more menacing than he did before.

"Sorry. We didn't mean to startle you like that. I should have said something sooner." Krieg chuffed deeply as if he heard the punch line of a good joke. " _Should have said something,_ " he repeated, realizing just how factual that statement was for him now, "How crazy is that?"

"Blue-eyed ninja monkey…" Krieg mewled, but in a different voice, his old growly voice.

A red exclamation point flashed before Zer0's faceplate. "You are _both_ speaking!" he said with astonishment. "So, you two are still in there / existing as one?"

"We are," Krieg confirmed.

Zer0 could not express how relieved he was to hear that. He just stared at him. "How…?"

Krieg scoffed and glanced down at his boots then back up at Zer0. "Man, we have so much to tell you but it's weird, ya know. Now that I can convey whatever I want I find myself not knowing where to start," he said full of exasperation and walked down a couple of steps leading into Zer0's workspace. "Isn't that just the way, though?"

"Squishy cement on the noodle," the psycho side lamented with a grumble. "The water's still cold and there have been TOO many sunsets!"

Zer0 hummed with understanding. "I know, we haven't / seen each other since that… _day_. / It was a dark time."

Krieg set his buzz-axe down, resting the bladed end on the floor and propping the handle against the console on the right side of the room. Then, he faced his long-time friend standing a few feet away.

"It's alright. You can say her name," Krieg said softly. " I mean… the pain. It will always be there. But we've found some inner peace," he reassured and looked directly at Zer0's visor. He could not see the assassin's face but he knew what the face behind it looked like. "It's really important to me that I tell you how grateful we are that you _always_ had our back when it came to Maya. I was never able to thank you for that support until now."

"Of course," Zer0 murmured. "Krieg… I'm sorry."

" _Sorry?_ No…" Krieg breathed out. "Don't be. If anything, _I'm_ the one that should be sorry. I know that we cannot dwell on the past but I just… I just wish we came to Tannis sooner. I could have spent the rest of my life trying to fix myself, but it would not have made any difference."

His bare chest rose and fell with a heavy sigh.

"Turns out I was in _way_ over my head," he explained. "There was a power, _an evil_ – something beyond my comprehension that would have consumed us both if Doctor Tannis hadn't helped us. I owe her and the vault hunters _everything_."

Zer0 was hanging onto Krieg's every word. "You guys opened a vault…"

"Yeah, a vault filled with hate – an all-consuming hate, Zer0. There are no viable words to describe it. It was the driving force behind the madness. Can you believe it?" Krieg said so incredulously. "Unless we unravelled everything that had happened to us we never would have been able to stop it."

Even the psycho side of Krieg spoke with a different tenor now. One that sounded a lot less angry and savage, but still talked in a poetic word puzzle sort of way.

"The meat man devoured the small man," he rumbled proudly.

"Yeah. It's exactly as he says," the sane Krieg alleged. "All this time he was protecting me from losing myself to that malignant abhorrence just like he did."

Zer0 digested the information that Krieg was telling him. "Like a big brother / protecting his closest kin / motives now explained," he said and tried to lighten the mood a little bit. "You once feared Tannis. / You called her 'Mad Lady'. / Hmm… what irony."

Krieg's extreme side gurgled with mirth and bellowed, "A sour pie became THE FEAST!

"Of which you ate humbly, I see," Zer0 mused.

"Ha!" the other Krieg laughed. "Yeah… I suppose you can say that we kinda did."

Zer0 said gesturing with his gloved hands towards Krieg, "I was concerned that / I would be conversing with / a mayonnaise jar."

"You heard about that? Heh, I was just being sarcastic. To be honest, it kind of worried me for a moment. I think Dr. Tannis thought I was serious. Did you watch the whole thing?" Krieg asked shifting his gaze away somewhat nervously. "I mean… you saw all of _that?_ That was some wild stuff. What… what did you think?"

"No… no, I didn't," Zer0 beseeched noticing how uneasy Krieg became about it. "I thought I would wait for you / to tell me yourself." He continued to explain without being anapestic. "Ellie mentioned it to me – said I could tune in on my ECHO, but I refused."

Behind the psycho mask, Krieg smiled. In all the time they knew Zer0, he always treated them with respect. He always showed them patience and he listened, even when the other guy rambled his ear off in his nonsense kind of way. Zer0 was one of the few that heard both sides of him in a way that most could not. Krieg would never forget that.

But what made him smile the most right now, was the endearing way that Zer0 was stumbling over his words. He wondered if he was blushing.

It was not often that the wisecracking assassin got all flustered.

Still, he could not imagine how overwhelming all of this was for Zer0. In so many ways, it felt like they were meeting again for the first time. But he knew that their seven-year friendship held fast and Krieg had no doubts in his mind, that they would overcome this new hurdle, in no time at all.

At least now, there would be no communication issues holding them back. The road before them was an untraveled one, awaiting new adventures.

"That means a lot to both of us, Zer0. I remember you told us your story once and… and…"

This time it was Krieg's turn to falter as he recalled a steamy memory. The night Zer0 told him his story was the same night he discovered old battle scars on the assassin's back and one slashed across his left eye. It was also the same night that they kissed with the lights off for the first time. He remembered the two of them curled up together on the assassin's crappy little futon, spent and sated, while Zer0 told him a sad, yet, incredible tale.

Krieg never told him, but that story brought a tear to his eye that night.

"Yeah, it is _definitely_ my turn to share our story with you. It's cool that you want to hear it from us." Krieg spoke with resolve, even as his face burned hot beneath his air-filtering mask thinking back on that racy and revealing night.

A bright red **< 3** lit up before Zer0's helmet."Like I said before / no matter how long it takes / I would wait for you."

 _Oh?_ Krieg set a cool unwavering gaze on Zer0. He was probably reading far too much into that statement, but there was just something about it, that caught his attention. He felt a twist of hope inside his gut when he heard it. Whatever it was, it certainly had the psycho chortling inside their mind like a giddy weirdo.

Krieg took a step closer. He brought his hand up, wriggling his thick fingers through the holographic heart emoticon glowing in front of Zer0's helmet. "It's not fair. The crazy guy used to do this all the time, but I… have always wanted to try this out for myself," he admitted before he quickly became self-conscious of what he was doing and snatched his hand away.

Zer0 had to remind himself, that Krieg's internal personality did not have control of his body before this wondrous transition, so having the physical freedom to act on his own will must be so _exhilarating_.

Krieg scoffed. "That was stupid."

"I did not think so," Zer0 replied quietly, "I always considered it / rather enchanting."

The vibe in the room got heavy just then. It felt as if there were a ton of unspoken words and unshared thoughts hovering around them like an oppressive fog.

Krieg broke eye contact and shifted his weight to his other leg.

"So… we heard you came by the infirmary for a while. Tannis saw you," he clarified before Zer0 could question it. "How did you know about the procedure? Guess the word got out."

"Moxxi called me," Zer0 responded facetiously and said, "She knows..."

A large brown eye, behind the psycho mask, widened and darted back to Zer0's visor. _"She knows…? About us…?"_

"Yes."

"H-how…?" Krieg was flabbergasted. "We didn't tell her anything, I promise on a stack of Grandma Flexington's homemade blueberry pies. We would _never_."

"I know that you did not tell her." Zer0 was snickering now, imagining what that scene might sound like if Krieg's psycho personality blabbed to Moxxi that they banged inside her bar restroom one time like a pair of horny jackrabbits.

"I've never told you / that night at the bar… _you know…_ / Mercenary Day," Zer0 hinted at. "She figured us out and has been teasing me about it ever since. She thinks I have a thing for rocket launchers..."

Krieg was rubbing a hand over his smooth head, across the leather straps groaning in disbelief. "I had no idea," he said breathlessly, unable to hide a chuckle at the innuendo regarding rocket launchers. "But that was _so_ long ago… we haven't… you and I haven't… done anything like that since we isolated ourselves years ago. Does she think we're still—"

"Sleeping together…?" Zer0 cut in rather bluntly. "Does it really matter what / she thinks about it?"

On subjects like these, it was difficult for the cool-headed and sagacious side of Krieg not to take a timorous stance. His other side, however, giggled about it wickedly and loud enough for Zer0 to hear.

"Well, when you put it that way of course it doesn't matter," Krieg supposed. "I, uh… I guess I'm a bit more conservative than the other guy. Like you, I'm not the kind of man that likes to kiss and tell either."

Indeed, Zer0 did not like to kiss and tell. He remembered using that line with Krieg the first time they ever hooked up. It seems that the little man never forgot it. When he initially met Krieg, he could not be sure the man was capable of keeping a naughty secret to himself. Sure, a few times the psycho side of him blurted things out, but no one was able to decipher what he was truly saying.

"I feel honoured to / converse with this side of you… / _conservative_ Krieg," Zer0 said with a hint of playfulness.

Krieg's eye now crested warmly behind his mask.

"Oh, man. You have no idea how great it is to talk to you, in my own words," he murmured and said truthfully to Zer0. "I'm so glad you're here..."

"A downpour on the reunion!" growled the psycho in agreement. "CRUSH the ninja monkey…"

At last, the barrier between them crumbled. Krieg and Zer0 did exactly that. They crushed each other with a long-overdue hug.

Finally, the words they were holding back began to pour out.

"I've missed you both. I was so worried," Zer0 proclaimed over Krieg's shoulder feeling the other man's warmth permeate through his armour as his strong arms held him close. "Full apprehension / of losing part of you. / Procedure unknown."

"We've missed you too," Krieg replied and chuckled softly. "Nah, you didn't lose us. But – I am sorry we disappeared on you for six months without a word, though. That wasn't right." He sighed and squeezed Zer0 tighter. "You have always meant so much to us. You deserved better than that."

"Krieg, you were grieving. / No harm done. The vital thing…" Zer0 assured. "Is that you're here now."

"And we are not going anywhere," Krieg promised, picking up Zer0's familiar scent. It made him rumble softly in a manner much like his psycho counterpart. "You feel so good… I miss how much we used to do this."

The psycho had his own way to describe it, "Feels like home…"

Just then, Zane wandered up to Zer0's office and stopped short at the spectacle before him, having caught the last parts of what Krieg said. He raised his blonde eyebrows and grinned mischievously.

"Oh-ho! Now isn't _that_ lovely," Zane proclaimed in his cheery Irish brogue.

Startled, Krieg and Zer0 let go of each other and shot a look of surprise at the older blonde-haired vault hunter.

With a voice tinged with merriment, Zane declared.

"Me Ma always said I had the world's worst fecking timing. Just dropped by to tell me old pal Zer0 that his old mate Krieg was up and about, but you two are _way_ ahead of me." Without waiting for a reply, he turned and wandered off with a breezy laugh. "Forget I was ever here..."

The two watched the vault hunter disappear through the hatch leading to the deck upstairs.

As soon as Zane was gone, Krieg looked at Zer0. "Hey, uh, can we get out of here? I miss Sanctuary, but… I really need to get off this ship for a while. Maybe somewhere quiet where we can catch up. Is that cool?"

"Uh… sure," Zer0 replied feeling a different kind of butterflies take flight inside his stomach all of the sudden. "How about my place?"

"As long as it's not some dirty cave filled with varkids and toxic swamp water, I'm all game," Krieg joked indignantly. "I think me and the other guy have had enough of that for a little while, wouldn't you say?"

"No kidding." Zer0 made a 'pfft' sound. "Here let me put the / location on your ECHO / we can fast travel."

Krieg let Zer0 do his thing on his device.

"Besides Rhys, you are / the only person that has / these coordinates." Zer0 shared. "But… I trust you, more than I trust myself."

"Coming from you, that means a lot," Krieg replied unable to ignore the instinctive feeling that Zer0 was saying something else just now. The crazy part was, he kind of hoped so.


	2. Chapter 2

**xx**

**xx**

The teleport brought them to an upscale apartment that was nothing like the Sanctuary shit-hole Krieg remembered on Pandora seven years ago. Standing in the main entrance, he marvelled at Zer0's multi-level apartment located in the heart of an urban Promethean city, within the skyscraper of the Atlas Headquarters.

The room was so spacious and clean, daylight filled the open-concept layout from the curtain-less glass panels that made up one corner of the place. Krieg guessed it to be mid-afternoon, noting the asteroid belt orbiting the planet in a bright yellowish sky with hints of soft pink.

"What floor are we on?" He wondered.

"Seventy-seventh," Zer0 supplied descending a few stairs that led into his place.

Krieg merely scoffed and set his buzz-axe down near the doorway and then followed his friend. He barely paid attention as the assassin wandered off to a small kitchen area on his left, divided only by a long granite bar counter with three tall bar stools paired up to it. Instead, he wandered further in looking around at the abstract art on the walls, brushing the tips of his fingers along the back cushions of an L-shaped white leather couch, positioned in front of a large television mounted to the wall.

"My wings are clipped and my head is dancing!" the psycho exclaimed in a panic.

"Really, the height of this place freaks you out?" sane Krieg questioned his other half in disbelief. "Alright. Fair enough. We are _a lot_ higher up than usual."

Then he grinned with thought and spoke to both the psycho and Zer0.

"Say, you guys remember in Sawtooth Cauldron. How we mowed down a bunch of those nasty assholes and then jumped off that buzzard nest? What a trip. That was fun."

Zer0 fondly recalled Krieg's prowess in battle and their time in Sawtooth with the old gang.

"The rush of a good / hunt can absolve many fears. / That was a good day," he replied. And to the psycho, Zer0 said. "Do not worry, friend, / this building withstood a war. / You are safe up here."

"A thousand screams. Silenced." Psycho Krieg seemed to appreciate the sentiment.

The other Krieg felt drawn to the opposite side of the apartment, however. His heavy boots thudded over the black stone tiles as he walked up to the tall glass windows. He peered out, mesmerized by the view and the sheer power of the city like an excited tourist. All around, enormous buildings appeared to loom over them like towering silver phantoms.

"You know… I don't think we're on Pandora anymore," Krieg teased good-naturedly. "This place – even this planet – is something else. It always was. It's been a long time since I've been on Promethea. I see a lot of damage – this the war you mentioned? Maliwan did all this, right?"

"Yes. Bunch of asshats / demanding a merger but / their invasion failed," Zer0 explained and filled Krieg in about Maliwan's CEO and his weird fixation with Rhys. "Katagawa, he / copied my suit and tried to / sabotage me."

"Whoa. Get out," Krieg clamoured, turning around to look at Zer0. "I didn't know anyone could copy your suit? I thought that was like top- _top_ -secret."

Zer0 nodded. "One should think so, hmm? / Remember Gortys? I told / you about her once."

Krieg remembered that particular visit in the cave he was calling home at the time. "Yeah, the sentient robot that had the ability to duplicate anyone's skills and..." It dawned on Krieg just then. " _Oh._ Do you think she shared your secret, perhaps by force?"

"That's exactly what / I thought for a moment, too… / but she would _never_ ," the assassin claimed hotly. "Still, it bothers me who did though."

"Yeah… that's crazy," Krieg replied with a scoff. "They better hope they don't cross our path. If we find them we'll bring you their head."

" _Ooh._ Promise...?" Zer0 twittered darkly and tossed Krieg a glowing heart **< 3**

"Ha-ha. Damn, right," Krieg assured with a smirk and glanced out the window again. "Well, either way, you have done well for yourself, my friend. This apartment is _real_ cozy. I guess being the head of security for Atlas has its perks," he praised.

"It certainly does," the assassin agreed. "Rhys prefers that I remain / close by. Precautions."

Just like that, Krieg frowned, the ridges of his brows pushing against the mask on his face. The mention of the Atlas CEO and his preference that Zer0 remain 'close by' bugged him in the worst way. Over the years, Zer0 brought up Rhys many, many times and Krieg always felt a twist of resentment whenever he did. Even the psycho side of him growled low in their throat as if he, too, felt the same ho-hum feeling at the mention of Zer0's boss. Seriously, what was their deal?

As far as the assassin knew, Krieg was still growling over the fact they were on the seventy-seventh floor. With a shrug, Zer0 hit a switch on the wall and turned on a few lights in the kitchen.

"Are you hungry? / Tired? Do you want a shower? / My place is your place," he told Krieg while reaching up to take off his helmet.

"All of the above," Krieg answered with a scoff, turning away from the scenic view to join Zer0 in the kitchen. He stopped in his tracks. "Whoa. W-what are you doing?" he stammered.

Zer0 froze and lowered his gloved hands, his visor now directed on his friend. Considering the man had seen his face a bunch of times over the years, he did not even think twice about it just now.

"Is this a problem, Krieg? I have nothing to hide from you," he said forgoing haiku. There were no short and witty replies when it came to dealing with Krieg's bouts of shyness. "You can keep your mask on if you wish. Do not worry about the windows they are only visible one-way. I made sure of that."

With a groan, Krieg shook his head dolefully.

"Yeah, that was weird. My reaction came completely by force of habit," he tried to clarify, his deep tenor thoughtful yet greatly embarrassed. "I… I don't know why I got all worked up about it. Maybe because we haven't seen you without your helmet in over a year."

"That is true. It's been too long. Which is all the more reason to take it off," Zer0 told him with added conviction. "When I left to come see you on Sanctuary earlier, it was nighttime here – now it is midday. I have been up all night. I'm tired and famished and I would like to take this thing off, air it out."

Certainly, Krieg did not think Zer0 wore his helmet all of the time. That was foolish.

He had every intention in the world to look away as Zer0 reached up and slipped off his helmet, setting it down on the countertop, but he never did. Krieg's gaze never left the man's beautiful pale face marred by a single scar slashed across his left eye or his spiky black hair that was now, longer on top and trimmed along the sides. It was tousled and messy, and to him, it was the most adorable thing.

"You are just as handsome as I remember, Zer0. You haven't aged a day," he professed, which earned him a charming smile that beat those flashy emoticons _any_ day of the week.

"Neither have you, friend. / You are very handsome, too, / still so strong and fit." His eyes lingered on Krieg's muscular body much longer than they probably should have.

Krieg tried to keep his cool even though he knew Zer0 was checking him out. "Heh. Thanks."

Zer0 scrubbed gloved fingers over his hair giving his scalp a good scratch with a contented sigh. "Much better – it is / good to relax. Did you say / you were hungry, Krieg?" he questioned with less of an echo without his helmet.

But all that Zer0 got was silence.

He looked over at the man standing like an ominous statue in his living room just staring at him. "Err… I asked if you were hungry..."

Krieg blinked and cast his gaze anywhere but on Zer0's face and those aqua snake-like eyes that presently held his interest. Yet, that resolve lasted all of two seconds. Drawn to get a closer look, he walked over to the kitchen area and stood on the other side of the bar counter.

"Yeah…" Krieg said as an afterthought trying not to make his staring obvious. "Now that you mention it… I bet we could eat a whole skag if you dared us."

A soft chuckle rose out of the assassin as he rummaged in the kitchen for a meal idea. "Well, I thought I would / make us something nice to eat. / You have that shower," Zer0 offered, trying to make his guest feel comfortable. "After a day like / yours, it will help you relax. / Much needed, time-out."

"Man, you're right. That sounds awesome," Krieg said. "You know, this might sound stupid. But this is the first time I have had control over my own basic needs in what feels like _forever_. Just the idea that I can take a shower whenever I want is just… so damn cool, ya know?"

Zer0 enjoyed how animated Krieg sounded over an innocent thing like having a shower. It was a pleasant reminder about how important the little things in life were sometimes.

Sane Krieg could not help but groan when he took a sample whiff of himself. To his psycho counterpart, he suggested, "Hey, bud. Can we agree that we clean on _my_ schedule? I'm talking teeth and laundry, that sorta stuff. Deal?"

"Strip the bone until it gleams," the other Krieg responded in his grumbling kind of way. "See the shiniest book on the shelf. How it mocks!"

"Wait. What? I am _not_ being a mother hen," sane Krieg complained. He shot a look at Zer0 who was watching them ever so curiously. "Do you see what I've been dealing with for the past seven years? He always accuses me of being too serious and fussy. You think that's true?"

With raised brows, the assassin held up his gloved hands in defence. "Seems like you two are / still in the tough process of / setting some house rules."

Krieg mentioned with a half-grin under his mask. "That's fair. You know, I hope this new us doesn't freak you out too much. I mean. Me and him. We really are two _very_ different people."

Zer0 thought about that. "Can I make a supposition?"

"Sure. I'm all ears," Krieg offered. "Well, not really, but imagine that. Being covered entirely in ears? Ugh. What if they all spoke?"

"And broke wind!" The psycho interjected with a cackle.

Krieg's laugh morphed from crazy to awkward. "Now you've just made it weird, man."

The assassin chuffed and shook his head, thinking that they were both being agreeably weird right now.

Zer0 shared his thought. "Let me see if I can decode you. You are serious and fussy when necessary– other times, chill, with a good sense of humour. Like myself… I often get the impression that most people think I am pretentious and all about work. At times, that is true. However, given the chance, I would much rather watch sitcoms inside my helmet. They do not get me at all."

Krieg just laughed, full and deep. "See – I'm not surprised by that. I never thought you pretentious, Zer0. Just a guy that likes to keep to himself. A closet freak," he teased. "But that's what we've always liked about you."

Zer0 was delighted to learn that he just might have more in common with the rational depth of Krieg's sane side than he originally thought.

"Ha. It takes one to know one – or should I say, _two_ ," he countered mischievously.

That comeback seemed to tickle both Kriegs and they chuckled.

Having this kind of banter with Zer0 was something sane Krieg used to dream about having. After getting over the initial awkwardness, it came so easily. He could just be himself and goof off.

Now, he felt torn about putting the brakes on it.

"As much as I hate to end our 'closet freak' discussion, this guy is going to go freshen up. I'll hurry back," he promised and hesitated briefly. "You're sure you don't mind, right? I hate to impose…"

The assassin furrowed his slender brows as he pulled off his gloves and set them on the counter _._ He implored, "Krieg, you could never / _impose_. Do not be silly. / I am thrilled you're here."

 _In more ways, than I am ready to admit,_ Zer0 finished the thought in his mind.

Humbled, Krieg's shoulders lowered a fraction. "And I'm happy to be here. Still, I wish I knew how to repay you for, you know, always treating us like a person."

"The evil is slain. / Metamorphosis begins. / You are the victor," Zer0 versed with a proper haiku. "And that is enough."

"Such beautiful misery…" growled the psycho softly.

For a moment, the other Krieg was speechless. Then he conceded. "You're right. I don't know if we feel like the victor just yet, but we're working on it. _Damn._ Zer0. I could spend an entire day listening to you spin poems like that."

That brought such a blushing smile to Zer0's face that he scoffed and turned away, using that very moment to fill a pot with some water. After which he set the pot on the range, turned on the heat, and thought, _careful, Krieg, because I could say the same about you and that enticing voice that I never knew you capable of until today._

Krieg's face was about as red as the burner heating the pot after blurting out such a flirty remark. "Um… where's your bathroom?" he asked awkwardly.

Collecting ingredients out of the fridge, Zer0 told Krieg it was downstairs next to the bedroom. He also told him where to find the towels and an extra toothbrush if he felt inclined.

Krieg thanked him again, probably for the tenth time today, and headed downstairs.

*********

When Krieg finished towelling himself dry and got dressed, he looked into the steamed-up mirror above the bathroom sink, maskless. He swiped a hand through the condensation and stared at his reflection.

"What do you think, buddy? Should we do it?" he said aloud to his other half.

"Scared of the cave monster?"

"Not anymore we're not," Krieg replied defiantly. "I mean… this is who we are. Time to man-up. I want Zer0 to know how much we've grown, internally. I don't think I'm alone on this one, what do you think?"

"Soothing whispers and glassy planets that still make my knees shiver."

"Oh, yeah... Tell me about it. But it's too late for that, right?" Krieg sighed. "I don’t want to complicate our friendship. Are we ready to put ourselves out there like that?"

"Puppets in a meat play with tangled strings," the psycho replied. "Is the show over?"

"I don't know. Is it crazy that he still stirs up those kinds of feelings even after all this time? It's not like we ever stopped caring… I wonder if he still feels that way about us sometimes. He's the only other person that ever made us feel that way besides Maya. What do you think she would say?"

The psycho grumbled with exasperation. "Gutless cowards…"

Krieg chuckled and said, "You're probably right. She would call us a coward."

*********

Dinner was waiting on a small dining table inside two large bowls, steam curling from the contents within. While Krieg was busy freshening up, Zer0 took the opportunity to remove his armour and change into something more comfortable, a simple dark grey hoodie with a white t-shirt and a pair of slim black pants.

He padded barefoot in the kitchen cleaning up his mess when he heard Krieg coming upstairs.

"Zer0?" Krieg said when he climbed the last step, checking out the assassin who had done a complete one-eighty in terms of attire while he was gone. "Wow, I almost didn't recognize you."

When Zer0 looked over at Krieg, he trusted that the rather dumb expression on his face was most unflattering. He stood staring at Krieg's rugged features and the scar tissue covering his missing right eye, and of course his favourite feature, those full, kissable lips.

"Y-you took off your mask," he stammered.

With a scoff, Krieg waggled the psycho mask he held in his hand. He walked over in socked feet and set the mask down next to Zer0's helmet on the countertop.

"Yeah…" he answered, "Not so handsome anymore, huh?"

"Stop saying that, Krieg. / You look fucking badass just / as I always say," Zer0 chided with an audible _tch!_ He threw the washcloth he had in his hand into the sink heatedly. "C'mon, let's eat. My stomach is close to eating itself."

Krieg just smirked. He expected Zer0 to say something like that.

They both sat down at the table and Krieg picked up a pair of chopsticks. All of the sudden, the irrational side questioned, "Stabby jabbers?"

"No, these are called 'chopsticks'. It's been a while but yours truly does know how to use them." Krieg told the psycho patiently. "You see, this living arrangement isn't so bad now, is it?" They looked down at the bowl filled with noodles and vegetables, even two hardboiled eggs. The aroma of broth and spices made their mouth water.

"Well, that was charming," Zer0 told them with warm speculation. "If you want seconds there is / much more in the pot."

"Duly noted. Mmm, this looks great." Krieg replied before digging in.

It had been a long time since they shared a meal and it did not take long for Zer0 to notice, how much calmer the little man ate. It was so unlike his old way of snarfing food down.

"How is it?" Zer0 questioned.

" _So good._ You always make the best noodles," Krieg told him after he swallowed a mouthful.

The assassin nodded, pleased to hear it. They continued to enjoy their meal until nearly all the noodles were gone.

Zer0 picked up his bowl with both hands to drink some of the broth, his eyes spying over the bowl at his guest. "I see that you did / not put your armour back on. / How was the shower?" he said between soft slurps of the broth.

"Amazing," Krieg raved while digging for a stray noodle. "We didn't mean to take so long but once we discovered how to operate that fancy shower and all those adjustable pressures we didn't want to get out." He chuckled at his blatant admission and looked over at Zer0. "I see you took off that new amour. Looks one hundred times more difficult to get out of than the old one."

 _Hmm, you would know,_ Zer0 mused to himself. "Yes, but it offers / more protection and suits my / new corporate gig." He set his empty bowl down and wiped his mouth with a cloth napkin he picked up from the table.

"Ah, right, your partnership with _Rhys Strongfork._ "

As soon as Krieg muttered that, the other side took over finishing their meal. He picked up the bowl and began gulping down the broth, finishing it in seconds followed by an obstinate belch.

Across the table, Zer0's eyebrows rose.

"Can we ask you a personal question?" Krieg set the bowl down on the table, not giving Zer0 a chance to answer that."Are you and Rhys… you know… _more_ than friends?"

 _Oh?_ The assassin was taken-aback, not only from the bold question but also from the burning jealousy he observed coming from _both_ Kriegs. Now that he thought about it. It would explain Krieg's odd behaviour every time he mentioned Rhys. He just never figured it out until this moment. _Well, now._

"Rhys is not my type," Zer0 answered simply and held back the urge to snicker. He also shared, "Romance uninspiring. / More work than play."

Now, Krieg's adrenaline was pumping. He fished for a little more information. "So, no one…? Not even a crush on somebody?"

At that, Zer0 hesitated, wondering if his answer would upset him further. "I entertained a / few but I did not see them / going anywhere."

"I see," Krieg said carefully, experiencing a dual sense of reprieve and sadness all at once. Then guilt struck him for being so intrusive and jealous. He had no right to feel that way. Not after Zer0 did exactly as he promised and backed off years ago out of respect for his pursuit of Maya.

For a moment, Krieg sat staring into his empty bowl not sure what else to say, so he did not say anything.

"Look," Zer0 said, "Don't sweat it. You and I were _very_ close once. Perhaps you have some… residual feelings. I’m kind of flattered, really." He stood up and picked up his empty dish.

 _And what about you, Zer0? Am I imagining things or do you still have some, 'residual feelings' for us too?_ Krieg wanted to ask so badly, but he could not bring himself to ask it. He wasn't sure he had the right to dump a question like that on him.

Instead, Krieg tried to smooth out the ruffles he created.

"Hey. I was _way_ out of line there... I bet Rhys is a great guy. I'd like to meet him one day," he said evenly. "I guess… I'm just kind of surprised you are not with someone by now. I dunno. It seems… kinda lonely. A guy like you shouldn't be lonely."

And Zer0 just snapped back, "You're here. I'm not lonely."

The silence that followed was deafening.

The only sound in the entire apartment came from a drip hitting the bottom of the kitchen sink. It seemed so loud it might as well have been grenades exploding a few feet away.

Brimming with vexation and mortification at his loss of control, Zer0 started to collect their dishes and utensils with a clenched jaw.

However, Krieg stood up quickly and placed a firm hand on his wrist to stop him.

"No. Let us take care of that. It's the least I can do to apologize," he declared taking charge for once. He felt like an ass for backing Zer0 into a corner that way. "How about you make us some tea?" Krieg suggested making an effort to diffuse the situation. "Afterward, we'll talk. I'll fill you in on everything just I promised. Sound good?"

With an unreadable expression, Zer0 gave a curt nod.

Krieg was good on his word. After the kitchen was spotless and the tea prepared, they parked themselves on opposite sides of the comfy white couch. Zer0 sat cross-legged on the far end back against the cushions and Krieg sat in the L-section so, he too, could sit cross-legged.

Staring down into his cup of hot tea, Krieg warned. "You sure you want to hear this? It's not going to be pretty."

"Yeah," Zer0 confirmed, sipping his tea carefully. "I'm ready."

"Okay, well…" Krieg began to tell his story. "I was born on Pandora to a bandit family, and I was the runt of the litter. My mother – she always called me a weakling. There's no polite way to say this but, she was not a nice woman and…"

Zer0 sat back and listened. And the more he listened the more he began to realize that no one could ever be prepared to hear Krieg's tale.

The man spoke of everything from his childhood to his meeting of Maya and how the other side, misjudged the Crimson Raiders. He described a mindscape that sounded nothing short of a nightmare. He shared how he used to be a father and a husband, but that he could no longer remember their faces or the sound of their voice.

By now, the tea had long lost its flavour. Zer0 could no longer taste it. He felt numb. Wretched. And the tough guy he prided himself to be, dissolved as he blinked back tears over his friend's pain.

Both Kriegs told him about Hyperion and the experiments – the horrors within horrors. The violence and blood. The endless stabbing of needles and savage mutilation.

They described the vile people behind the senseless deaths of so many innocent lives and their life as a prisoner just wishing for it all to end – until their psyche shattered. It was from that day forward, two personalities inhabited his mind. The psycho took control and protected what little sanity they had left.

Krieg recounted the vault and the evil that waited in there – the odium of hate that drives all psychos. He also told Zer0 the last words Maya said to him and how she helped him get through all of that.

"So, here we are. Ready for anything. You know… to live the rest of this life the best way that we can," Krieg said as if he was making a pledge. "I know, without a doubt, that is what she would want."

When Krieg was finished, he looked over and found Zer0 sitting with his knees pulled up to his chest, and the hood of his sweater pulled over his head. The tea he had balanced on top of one knee, fingers clasped around the cup. He could barely see the man's face under the shadow of his hood.

"Zer0…?" Krieg questioned warily and set his empty cup down on the coffee table.

Slowly, the assassin unfolded himself and set his cold, unfinished tea down on the table. Then he stood up and wandered over to Krieg's side of the couch. He sat down next to him.

Then Zer0 murmured with a voice full of pride and sorrow, "Your humanity / and will… could not be broken. / Your loss breaks my heart."

Krieg glanced over his shoulder at Zer0 and that is when he noticed wet stains he was trying to conceal with his hoodie.

"Hey… none of that," he soothed and wrapped a big arm around Zer0, who wanted to comfort him as much as he needed to be comforted. "You _crying_ kinda scares me a little – okay, it scares me _a lot_ ," he teased gently trying to lighten things up.

At that, a corner of Zer0's mouth lifted with a half-smile. He rested his head against Krieg's shoulder. "Can I tell you something?"

"You can tell us _anything_ ," Krieg reassured him.

"There is a line from an old poem that claims, _'If you love something set it free_ ," Zer0 recited and proclaimed, "I did that. You and Maya… you were _supposed_ to be happy together. Take on the world like a couple of badasses. That's how it should have happened. It was important to me because it was important to you. I wanted you to be happy. You guys know that, right…?"

Psycho Krieg let out a pitiful mewl.

"We _do_ know that," Krieg whispered sincerely. "Trust me, we know."

When they started the whole friends with benefits thing, it began with no strings attached. Easy. Chill. Just fun and games. However, the heart is a fickle beast, more fearsome than any vault monster and they were powerless to fight it. Krieg understood the sacrifice when they went their separate ways and carried on being just friends. But, they never really spoke about it after that.

So hearing Zer0's verbal admission, even if it came from a line of a poem, took Krieg's breath away.

For a while, they stayed just how they were, sitting quietly together on the couch, each man lost in his thoughts. It did not feel weird or strange but more akin to a downpour weakening into a soothing gentle rain.

"Here's one for you. Tell me what you guys think, okay?" Zer0 broke the silence and shared one of his enigmatic idioms. "Passing through a storm / will we sink and drown, or sail / to calmer waters."

"Hmm…" Krieg sounded and tried to decipher it. "Let's see. You're talking about fortitude. About never giving up."

"Oh. I had not considered it that way." Zer0 replied thoughtfully. "Cool. It's not wrong but that's not it."

"Oooh! A mind-tickler!" Psycho Krieg blasted. He knew _exactly_ what Zer0 was trying to say. "Impending screams. It's like spinning the magic bone wheel! A catastrophe of torment..."

Zer0 smiled softly under the grey hood. "Yes… precisely, Krieg," he awarded leaving sane Krieg utterly bewildered.

" _Okay…_ You two care to explain that then?" Sane Krieg requested with an amused scoff.

The assassin clarified. "Some storms are powerful enough to destroy us but sometimes not. They are unpredictable. Just as predicting fate is futile."

"All right, that was deep and very true." Krieg blew out a puff of air and mused, "I swear the next thing I know the two of you are going to start writing poetry together."

The psycho twittered like a villain creating his master plan.

"Hmm, I might like that," Zer0 contemplated and clapped a hand on Krieg's knee. He pushed himself off the couch and stood, sliding the hoodie off his head. "So… what will you do next, Krieg?" he asked while collecting the teacups.

"You know, you could come and work for Atlas," Zer0 added before wandering off towards the kitchen. "Rhys always needs strong / and intelligent people to / clean up his messes."

At that, Krieg laughed and turned in his seat to watch Zer0 set the cups in the sink. "Intelligent? _That's it._ Now you've gone _too_ far, my friend," he exaggerated with bedevilment, thinking it has been a long time since anyone called him that.

Zer0 chuckled and returned, parking the side of his butt on the back edge of the couch, facing his friend. "I'm serious," he said.

"Atlas, huh? That's tempting," Krieg said honestly. "But I think we will go back to doing what we did best, bounty hunting. He can still go nuts slicing up the bad guys with his buzz-axe and I'll keep the bad guys from harming good people. It's a win-win."

"Nice. If you require / an extra gun on a job / give me a holler," Zer0 offered kind of eager to find an excuse to jump in on some action.

"We'd…" Krieg tried to stifle a yawn. "…like that."

"Oh. You sound tired / I have taken too much of / your time. You should sleep."

Feeling relaxed, Krieg felt more inclined to share. "You know… I heard you yawning earlier on Sanctuary. I was about to say hello when you did that. It was too damn cute – totally threw me off my game," he admitted.

 _"I knew it,"_ Zer0 retort in a crafty way, and then asked more seriously, "Where are you staying?"

"I… uh…" Krieg did not have an answer to that yet.

Suddenly, Zer0's eyes softened just a touch."Stay with me for a / little while. You know, until / you figure it out."

Krieg blinked at him. "You sure…? I mean… is that a good idea?"

"Why would it be a bad one?" Zer0 countered even if he knew the glaring answer to that.

"I dunno…" Krieg murmured, finding it hard to think of an answer when Zer0 was giving him that come-hither look with those striking iridescent eyes of his.

The psycho cackled roguishly. "Nngh! Say YES!"

"All right, all right," Krieg relented throwing his hands up with a simper. "We'll take you up on that offer. I promise not to get all up in your space. And tomorrow… I need to visit a few people. I need to thank them for all they have done for us, ya know. It feels important."

"The great reunion. / Tina, Brick and the Bird Man." Zer0 said delighted to hear it. "The old vault hunters?"

"Ha! Mordecai. I bet it'll blow his socks off when I use his real name and make no psychotic attempt to eat Talon," Krieg bemused and thought about the old gang. "You know… I have no idea where to find Axton or Salvador. I heard something a while back about them being show hosts or something? And Gaige. Oh man, I wonder what she's been up to lately. I know when you came to visit me one time – you mentioned her hosting a wedding."

Zer0 nodded and filled Krieg in on what everyone has been up to and where they might be found these days.

Then they spent the next while chatting about old friends.

However, before long, Krieg's chin was dipping slowly to his chest as he started nodding off. And Zer0 could barely keep his eyes open. It got so ridiculous that every time Krieg yawned, Zer0 yawned and vice versa.

"All right – I'm done," the assassin claimed. It might only be early evening here on Promethea but it had been a long day and night for both of them.

Zer0 urged Krieg to lie down and get comfortable. As he did that, Zer0 wandered off to fetch him a pillow and a blanket.

By the time the assassin returned, Krieg was sprawled over the couch fast asleep.

Carefully, Zer0 covered him up and stuffed a pillow underneath his heavy head. He turned away to leave but hesitated and looked back, transfixed on Krieg as he slept. He listened to his slow even breaths and thought about the whirlwind of emotions this man made him feel today. With an inaudible grunt, Zer0 daringly reached over and brushed his hand affectionately over Krieg's bare head.

He whispered. "If you wanted it / I would let you have it all. / Every part of me."

With that, Zer0 turned away. He made a point to shut off all the lights in the apartment before heading to his room.

He washed away the day with a quick shower before climbing into his soft warm bed. He settled under the blankets and turned on his side, head on the pillow. That is when he discovered where Krieg had placed all the armour he took off earlier. There it was, piled across a bench situated in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows in his bedroom.

With a small shake of his head, Zer0 closed his eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

**xx**

**xx**

It was dark when Krieg's eye snapped open with his head sunk in a soft pillow that he was drooling on. At first, he wondered where the hell he was and why he was not wearing his mask, but… it all came flooding back.

That's right.

He was at Zer0's place. They talked for so long and he fell asleep on the couch. He must have covered him up and given him the pillow, but Krieg did not remember any of that.

Krieg threw off the blanket and sat up to the stellar view from the seventy-seventh floor, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and gathered his bearings. For a moment, he felt like a sea creature inside a giant fish tank observing the world beyond. The stars were plentiful in a nebulous sky of deep blues and dark purples with an aurora of pink hinting towards dawn.

A man could get used to waking up to a view like this, he marvelled.

However, stargazing would have to wait.

"Nng! Hot rain cometh! Flap your wings." The psycho demanded, trying to rouse his other half out of his dreamy state.

" _All right._ I'm going. Don't rush me," sane Krieg groaned at him. "We're not going to wet ourselves. Geez. This ain't my first rodeo..."

He stood up and wandered drowsily through the darkened apartment over to the kitchen counter where his psycho mask sat next to Zer0's helmet. He picked up an ECHO device he also left there earlier. It told him that he had been asleep for nearly seven hours and it was approaching early morning here on Promethea.

Hmm. He must have dozed off early.

Krieg headed for the stairs leading to the only bathroom in the apartment. Briefly, he stopped at the top step and worried about being a disturbance. Zer0 was down there and he did not want to be a pesty guest, but there was no way around it.

He moved around as quietly as a big man such as himself could move. Thankfully, his socks absorbed most of his footfalls and the stairs did not creak.

When he reached the bottom of the U-shaped staircase, he looked over the spacious shadowed bedroom spread out before him. Zer0 was in his bed in the center of the room, covered up and asleep on his side, back to him.

A faint city glow spilled in from the windows and over Zer0's long slumbering form. For once, the man was sleeping in a big proper bed and not a crappy futon on the floor.

 _Gotta love these Atlas perks_ , Krieg considered and made his way to the bathroom, closing the door with a soft click.

Krieg debated on whether or not he should flush. Zer0 used to claim that he was a light sleeper since _'assassin's sleep with one eye open'_ he told them once. However, there were times Krieg remembered rummaging around being restless with Zer0 passed out nearby, and not once did he stir or wake up. Krieg smirked, he admired the bravado but Zer0 was full of shit sometimes.

He flushed.

After a quick wash of his hands, he patted them dry on the sides of his pants and turned off the light.

Wandering back into the hallway, Krieg stopped to glimpse into an open, walk-in closet opposite the bathroom. The first time he did not bother to check it out, but now his interest was piqued. He hit a switch and made an appreciative noise at what he found.

Under soft lighting, he saw wall-to-wall weapons and equipment.

Everything from sniper rifles to automatic pistols, hand grenades, and armoured body gear. There was enough explosive material in here to take down a small metropolis. He even spotted Zer0's old vault hunter suit, the black and grey outfit with the red '0' on the chest.

It was a handsome collection of Zer0's favourite stuff and Krieg was tempted to walk in and admire the treasure trove up close. But, he decided against it. Now was not the time to nerd out.

He turned off the light and padded back to the bedroom.

Again, he came to a standstill and studied Zer0 sleeping. It was difficult to imagine that the slender body under that white comforter was a man capable of slitting many throats in a matter of seconds – a highly trained and very intelligent killer, as deadly as they come.

Now, asleep and unarmed with none of that high-tech gear on his person, he was just a man… vulnerable and defenceless. A warm body with a beating heart who desired to be loved just like anyone else.

 _Hrmph._ _To be loved_ … Krieg reflected. That is _all_ they ever wanted. His thoughts gave way to a heavy crushing sigh.

"You just going to / stand there staring at me or… / you wanna get in?"

Krieg stiffened and his heart nearly leaped out of his throat.

Was Zer0 spouting haiku in his sleep? Was he dreaming? _Had_ he been sleeping with one eye open after all? All questions pointed to 'no' and a possible 'yes' as the assassin folded back the blanket he was under open to the spot next to him.

The invitation was clear.

Swallowing thickly, Krieg felt a rush he had not felt in a long while ignite inside his belly and spread out over every inch of him.

His body was answering the question before his mind could catch up. His hands went to his belt and started unbuckling it. He slipped off his pants and shorts even took off his socks and left it all on the floor.

Whom were they kidding? They wanted this. And Zer0 wanted them. Nothing else mattered right now, they were not going to run and hide anymore.

That Krieg was gone.

Bare feet patting across the cold hard tiles, he made his way to the other side of the bed. He crawled under the blankets, gathered the assassin into his arms, and kissed him.

Then, he kissed him again. And again. Until it felt like yesterday when kissing Zer0 came so easily.

Their legs tangled intimately and Zer0 moaned out softly, his body responding to a primal need much more urgent than sleep.

Their kisses were tender, exploring each fold of each other's lips.

Half of Krieg purred and rumbled dangerously as the other half swept his free hand sensually over Zer0's lean body, bunching up the t-shirt he wore. Krieg slipped his hand underneath the shirt. Letting it travel from his shoulder and along his sides, across the scars on his back and down over the narrow swell of Zer0's hip, stopping to grab his rear over a fitted pair of boxers.

Clinging and pawing at each other underneath the blankets, Zer0 slipped his tongue past Krieg's lips. They sighed as their soft tongues swept together, their kiss becoming deeper and more demanding.

Krieg's wandering hand smoothed back up until it found its way into Zer0's hair. He raked his fingers through it and groaned, relishing the feel of those silky strands gliding between his fingers. Instinctively, he flexed his hips, pressing his growing arousal against Zer0's ample length straining behind the cloth of his underwear.

And then—

Unexpectedly, Krieg's mind caught up to his actions and the splendour of his desire gave way to doubt. It snaked its culpable way through the cracks. Torment gnawed on his conscious.

He stilled and backed away slightly, letting go of Zer0's mouth. He studied his face in the diffused light, thumbing across one set of dark eyelashes and over the delicate scar on the assassin's left eye ever so gently.

"What is it?" Zer0 said in a hushed but concerned voice.

"Is this wrong what we're doing?" Krieg asked in a moment of clarity.

Zer0 stared at him, his blue eyes glowing faintly. "Does it feel wrong to you?"

"It… it never feels wrong with you," Krieg confessed.

"Then it's not wrong."

That's all Krieg needed to hear. He moved in close, nosing over Zer0's ear and into his hair, inhaling the pleasant scent of his shampoo. He held the assassin tightly and murmured in complete earnest, "You make us not want to be alone anymore…"

Zer0 murmured back, "You both make me feel the same way."

Just like that, the passionate connection they once shared rekindled. It burned through their skin and blood just as hot as it did seven years ago.

Needing him now more than ever, Krieg pawed at Zer0's white t-shirt and pulled it off him in such haste that it threatened to rip. Once free of his shirt, Zer0 lifted his hips and removed his boxers wedging them mindlessly beneath the sheets with his feet.

With quickened breaths and soft moans, they collected each other again in a gathering of arms and legs, warm flesh deliciously fused, kissing with a fresh frenzied need.

Zer0's hands sampled Krieg's rock-hard body, enjoying how his back muscles rippled under the surface of his skin. He loved this body. He missed touching it. It was everything he was not. The size and strength – how secure he felt when held against it.

Then Krieg left his mouth, leaving Zer0's kissed-raw lips to cool and tingle now that his warmth was gone. He ventured underneath the blanket. Dropping smouldering kisses along the assassin's chest and stomach, marking a blazing path until he settled on his stomach between his legs.

Zer0 felt Krieg's strong hands wrap around his thighs, holding himself in place as he washed his tongue vigorously over his hard length, tasting him thoroughly before swallowing him whole. He even felt the charms on Krieg's leather necklaces tickling against his rear. He moaned and pressed his head back against the pillow.

Tantalizing sounds of a sucking wet mouth moving over skin permeated from under the blankets. And Zer0 added to the mix with soft sighs.

There was some distinction in the way Krieg performed, Zer0 thought. Perhaps it was because they have not been together like this in such a long time that he had forgotten what it was like, but Zer0 knew that was not it. This was the first time the 'little man' was physically in control and his manner was a lot more sensual and unrushed.

Just then, as if the psycho side overheard Zer0's thoughts, Krieg's hot mouth released him.

"Mmm… salty meeeat…" he growled with menace, which made the other Krieg groan.

" _Yeah…_ Not the mood I'm going for here, bud." He levelled with the psycho quietly. "Look, how about you let me steer this ride, at least… for a little while. Cool?"

The psycho thought it over and grumbled, "Fair is the trumpet's bleating horn."

" _Sweet._ I can deal with that."

On this matter, Zer0 was not about to interfere because truthfully, he cared for both Kriegs. He would not choose one over the other.

He propped himself up on his elbows and grinned when he spotted Krieg's bare legs sticking out at the end of the bed and the round shape of his head under the blanket.

"Two distant mountains. / One is rocky. One is smooth. / _Both_ are beautiful." He reminded them in his way.

Krieg became still and silent for a moment. Then he let go of one of the assassin's legs and pulled back the covers, looking up at him.

"Sweet nothingness…" The psycho gurgled in his fanciful way of saying 'Zer0'.

Sane Krieg's voice turned husky and velvet, "How about I show you _exactly_ how we feel about that."

He feathered his lips across the assassin's inner thigh, kissing and sampling the tender skin there as if he were sucking the juices off a bone. The assassin shivered and trembled in his grip and Krieg purred with delight.

Zer0's eyes smouldered as every fine hair sprung up over his body.

"It's moments like these…" Krieg said in between his lip-brushing and a nibble or two, "That I'm reminded of all the times I was unable to say or show you how I felt, especially after you said things like that to us. Just lay back – we got this."

Krieg pulled the blanket back over his head, prepared to reduce Zer0 into a writhing puddle of impassioned goodness.

 _Wow._ This man, both tame and untamed was so in control of it all, Zer0 thought, still getting used to it. And it certainly showed when it came to dishing out pleasure.

With a shuddering moan, he sank back down against the pillows in defeat.

This side of Krieg did not take him as deeply or as aggressively as the other side did in the past, but his remarkably skillful tongue, more than made up for it. It was exploring him in ways never attempted before. His tongue went everywhere – wriggling and prodding sensitive nooks, unabashedly lapping over his most tender bits.

He took his time and lavished him with so much attention that Zer0 was simply swooning. He reached over the blanket to affectionately pet over Krieg's head as it moved rhythmically beneath it.

Chuckling like a devil, Krieg grinned around Zer0's length.

Krieg did not deem himself an expert in the world of foreplay, not by a long shot, but he did understand the fine art of going with the flow. And the flow demanded that he taste and feel and squeeze _everything_.

For Zer0 the pleasure was insanely good but he was getting far too excited. He lifted the blanket and peered into the darkness, barely able to make out the man ravaging him beneath it.

Eyes heavy-lidded with lust, he petitioned Krieg's return.

Hearing that tone, Krieg knew that Zer0 was warning him that if he kept going he would reach climax before he was ready. Understanding that request, Krieg complied and crawled out of the stifling blanket den and over top of Zer0.

He gazed down at his softly lit features before he sank into him with an intimate cuddle, careful not to put all his weight on him, drawing his knees up to a squat between Zer0's legs.

The assassin wrapped his long legs around Krieg's waist, clinging to him and capturing his mouth that tasted of him. He kissed him so long and deep a moan vibrated in Zer0's throat.

The intensity was almost unbearable.

The ache between Krieg's legs begged for something more. He started to grind his hardened flesh into him and Zer0 was returning the motions, meeting every flex of his hips with his own.

Krieg drew his mouth away, burrowing his face under Zer0's chin, nuzzling and kissing his neck. He voiced somewhat hesitantly next to his ear, "Err… do you want me to take you or… do you want to take me? How's this working out?"

 _Oh?_ Zer0 did NOT expect to hear _that_.

"I was not aware / that you might want to receive – / is that a desire?" he questioned carefully. "I'm not opposed to it."

"I… I dunno…" Krieg began to hum and haw.

As awkward as he felt right now, Krieg looked directly at Zer0 and said, "I was never able to ask what _you_ might want. We're always on top. I just wondered if that's kinda selfish of us." Krieg chuckled uneasily and revealed, "Gawd knows you are the only person I could _ever_ say this to without dying a thousand pitiful deaths."

With a groan, Krieg lamented. "Ugh! Forget I mentioned it."

In Zer0's world, rules existed mostly to be broken. "Are you kidding me? / The notion of giving _you_ / pleasure, makes me hot."

Now mentioned the idea made Zer0 come alive in such a way that he simply throbbed. It's not as if he never thought about it. He just assumed that was how Krieg wanted to roll.

"Ha! Yeah, I can tell you like the idea." Krieg mused feeling Zer0 pulsing against him.

The assassin indulged in some dirty talk. "Making you cry out / Your fingers gripping the sheets / Me pounding you hard."

Before Zer0 even finished speaking, Krieg had his face buried against his shoulder, groaning as if he was going to burn up from sheer embarrassment.

"Stop..." he bemoaned.

 _He-He. Mission accomplished,_ Zer0 thought with a roguish snicker. "Did it turn you on?"

"More than you know, man," Krieg mumbled against his neck.

Even if it felt like they merely picked up where they left off, Zer0 knew that _so_ _much_ had changed since their vault hunting days. It blew his mind as he continued to learn just how differently the two Kriegs approached certain matters.

Yet, he noticed a few glaring similarities that tickled Zer0 to no end. For one, both of them were hopeless romantics. To judge them solely on their daunting psycho façade would be such an injustice, for inside, they could be the most bashful and sensitive creatures at times.

Zer0 did not want his first time with Krieg in seven years to end with him being a vulgar insensitive ratch.

He had much more tact and class than that.

"There is no shame in / giving to one another. / In me – you feel good," he reminded his adorable shy friend, smoothing his palms across his back as if to calm him. "You think it over. / We'll talk about it later. / Now take me, big boy."

Zer0 urged Krieg to loosen his cuddling so he could reach over and pull open a drawer to his nightstand. He rummaged inside blindly until he found what he was looking for.

"Here," he said handing Krieg the lube.

"Just like old times," Krieg mused. "I see you still have this stuff."

"You know, for those _lonely_ nights," Zer0 quipped as if he should know.

It dawned on Krieg then. Duh!

He settled his large body along Zer0's side, his arm cradling his head. He wet his fingers with the lubrication and slipped his hand beneath the blanket, easing a slick index finger into him. While he did this, Krieg purred hotly as he envisioned Zer0 laying here in his bed masturbating alone.

"I'd love to watch you get yourself off," he admitted and rumbled in the naughtiest way.

The assassin laughed and sighed as Krieg's fingers strummed and stretched him. "I will if you will," he replied.

"Deal..." Krieg whispered, listening to Zer0's breathing shift to soft grunts and whimpers as he stroked him harder.

Manic Krieg could not hold back his impish chuckle, admiring the little man's daring suggestion and how eagerly, Zer0 agreed to it.

"Well, now. I see that tickles you too," Zer0 murmured to the psycho as he worked his left hand between them and grasped Krieg's ridged length pressed against his hip.

Krieg growled vivaciously at the touch. That slim, three-fingered hand groped and squeezed him firmly.

The assassin reached up with his other hand, brushing it over Krieg's cheek as he gazed down at him. He did not even flinch as Zer0 touched his face. Instead, he closed his eye and nudged against his hand as if urging him to continue.

And Zer0 did exactly that.

He pet over Krieg's bare head, down along his corded neck, and across his massive shoulder. It continued to meander over the arm stretched across his body until his hand was over Krieg's hand that was between his legs, where he fingered him.

Zer0 pinned Krieg's hand down with his own and started to fuck his fingers, hips rolling up.

"Oh, shit…" Krieg cursed at the display.

With a lust-filled chuckle, Zer0 removed his hand and returned his focus on stroking Krieg's thick, heavy length. He grasped the back of Krieg's head urging him down to him.

Krieg closed his eye when their lips met. Savouring the intimacy both sides of him yearned for.

What was to come next, felt as natural to both of them as inhaling their next breath.

Parting from his mouth wetly, Krieg backed off Zer0 and grabbed the lube. He smeared more of the stuff along his shaft that was standing at full attention. The assassin spread his legs to accommodate him and Krieg settled between them, pulling the blanket back over them enjoying the added closeness that it provided.

With an awkward moment of positioning, Krieg blindly eased himself inside. The tight squeeze that gripped his hard flesh made him groan. Zer0's heat was incredible.

Sucking air over his teeth, Zer0 grasped onto Krieg's extended arms as he hovered above him. _Fuck._ He filled him so deeply, stretched him so wide. Krieg held it there and they gazed at each other, unspoken words of exquisite endearment shared silently between them.

Then Krieg withdrew almost fully and slid back in.

"Mmm…" they both moaned followed by a fervid chuckle.

Krieg started to thrust, gradually at first, relishing the fact that he was participating in intercourse for the first time in years. It was not as if he didn't feel it while just a voice inside of their head. He did. But it was not his actions. Not his physical output.

He was thankful that the other guy let him have so much of this experience so far. It was like he understood how much he needed this.

As their bodies began to slip and slide, fluid and fast, sane Krieg said to the other guy in mind. _It feels sooo good… just a little more, okay._

Psycho Krieg was rumbling like an oversized cat. He was not objecting to the fun they were having and he was not about to deny the little man the splendours he had been deprived of for so long. Things were different now and he rather enjoyed the teamwork instead of butting heads with him all the time.

Even if he was dying to touch Zer0 in his way, psycho Krieg knew his opportunity was coming.

Krieg was lost in the adorable noises Zer0 was making, lost in how his body accommodated every solid inch of him. He barely felt the vice-grip the assassin had on his biceps as he took him.

Below him, he watched as Zer0 knotted his brows and screwed up his face in breathtaking anguish. He had those pretty eyes of his squeezed shut. Seeing the pleasure he was delivering prompted him to thrust harder.

Suddenly, Zer0 cried out their name and the psycho could not take it anymore.

"Let me feed him inches!" he growled.

Sane Krieg laughed softly and let him have it. "Go wild," he said.

Like a flip of a coin, Krieg's mannerisms and voice changed.

Krieg repositioned his arms, planting them behind the bend of Zer0's knees forcing them further back. This way he could thrust into him harder. He spanked him with his hips, skin smacking off skin powerfully. Krieg gave into guttural groans and satisfied snarls.

His backside undulated at a faster tempo beneath the white blanket that lowered some to expose one of Zer0's bare feet.

"Yessss…" the assassin hissed, swirling in red bliss.

Stabbing pleasure into the man beneath him, the psycho remembered how his ninja monkey always begged that he fuck him harder. Make him pant and cry. Make him dig his nails into him. A plea he was always willing to fulfill.

He held nothing back.

Then a wicked idea came to the psycho's mind. "Toss your carcass!" he demanded and pulled out abruptly.

Breathing heavily, Zer0 smirked at the sudden energy shift. He turned over on his stomach and got on his fours, while Krieg positioned himself behind him.

Grabbing Zer0's hips, Krieg prodded until the spongy tip of his engorged length found its mark. In one solid motion, he sheathed himself fully into that tight heat with a grunt.

Zer0's fingers fisted the sheets.

Leaning over, Krieg braced one arm across Zer0's collarbone while holding himself up with his other arm planted to the bed. He held the man close from behind thrusting into him with rapid succession.

The true motivation for this position was so Krieg could bite the tops of Zer0's bare shoulders and tease his ears with his tongue and teeth.

"Oh, fuck," Zer0 was panting.

The penetration was so deep that Zer0 felt every stroke strum over his prostate in such a sweet, sweet way that he moaned louder.

Krieg kept bucking hard and fast, securing Zer0 against his chest with furious might, puffing and growling over his shoulder.

The sensations were electric. Each leg-shaking thrust brought Zer0 one step closer to release. And every time Krieg plunged his hot wet tongue into his ear breathing fervently against his skin, he quivered.

Zer0 was so close.

He started groaning and grasped feverishly onto Krieg's arm strewn across his chest. Zer0 pressed his head back against him as his orgasm spread like wildfire fed by a strong wind into a dazzling inferno. It tingled all over him from his fingertips to his toes.

The sane side panted over the assassin's shoulder, "Oh, man, you're squeezing me so hard right now."

That delicious tone of voice reverberated into Zer0's ear and made him come _so hard_ that he cried out resplendently. Hot fluids laced the sheets beneath him as Krieg continued to hammer him from behind, feeding his flame.

It was so wickedly perfect.

"Damn…" Krieg breathed. "You are _so_ fucking beautiful."

Krieg was not far behind especially after Zer0 came like that, throbbing and trembling. He let go of Zer0's shoulder and grabbed his hips again with both hands. Indulging in a few more mind-altering thrusts until the knot of his climax began to unravel from within.

"I'm close," he warned over heavy breathing.

"Keep going," the assassin urged. "I want you to."

A demand like that set Krieg off like dynamite. Both sides of him came with a shudder and a series of gratifying groans, and a few deep, monstrous growls.

Krieg battered Zer0 with a few jerky thrusts until he filled him with every hot drop.

Zer0 let his arms give way and collapsed to the bed below. Krieg caught himself before he crashed on top, chuckling and catching his breath. Amused by their dramatics, he continued to relish in the waves of pleasure still coursing through his body like an illicit drug.

Unmoving, but still buried deep, Krieg leaned down to pepper the side of Zer0's damp face with kisses that rested on the pillow.

"It's kinda been a while. I unloaded _big time._ It's gonna be messy. Sorry," Krieg told him with a buoyant chortle.

Zer0 laughed airily. "That's what the shower is for – and clean sheets."

"Good to know." Krieg slipped out and rolled off, settling himself beside Zer0 on his back. The two of them remained that way for a while, limp and sated, just savouring the moment. The cool air in the room felt good on their skin and the brighter glow coming through the windows announced the start of a new day.

Now with all that tension out of their system, inhibitions were a lot lower. Reality kicked in and a few issues begged for a sorting out.

Krieg was the first to voice up.

"Can we have some _real_ talk – like no more bullshit kinda talk?" He asked quietly, staring up at the ceiling.

Zer0 turned his head on the pillow to look over at Krieg for a moment. Then, he rolled onto his side and propped a hand under his head, elbow on the pillow.

"Of course," he replied.

Krieg thought about how to phrase his byzantine question. "Do you feel like… like I'm that guy trying to have his cake and icing sorta thing? I mean… that's shitty and it makes me a giant asshole. I need to know if you feel that way and are being too polite to say it."

"I don't feel that way… / you're being too hard on yourself. / You followed your heart," Zer0 answered straight away.

Krieg turned his head to meet Zer0's eyes. "Man, talking about my heart is a tough conversation… because you're part of it."

"Then, just say what you feel." The assassin insisted. "I told you last night where I stood – again, ending things between us, was part of the deal. I was prepared for that. We had choices to make."

"And now…?"

Zer0 let out a rush of air. "I… I guess it's different now. I mean, that's up to you."

Krieg inhaled deeply and returned his gaze to the ceiling. "We have always cared about you, just as we cared for Maya. Does that make sense?" he said. "Me and the other guy, we didn't expect that to happen – it just did. However, we couldn't talk to you about this back then, obviously."

Krieg sighed.

"I'm scared shitless saying all of this right now," he admitted. "But after what we just did… I guess I need to make that clear."

"I remember you / both told me that in your way / many, many times." The side of Zer0's mouth curved and he reached over to brush a hand over Krieg's chest. "Spilling of innards. / Unending calamities. / Burning hearts and such."

Krieg let out a soft laugh.

"Perhaps you and I have new choices to make, but we do not have to make them right now," Zer0 suggested. "There is no rush. Let's just see where it goes."

Krieg smiled at that. "And that's why the meathead always calls you a 'clever ninja monkey'," he teased. "Doesn't that name drive you nuts?"

"Not when he says it," Zer0 replied.

The psycho chortled smugly.

And then, sane Krieg dropped a bombshell.

"You know that poem you recited last night," he began. "I noticed that you did not finish the last two lines of it. I remember it well. It goes. _'If you love something set it free. If it comes back, it's yours. If not, it was never meant to be._ '

Zer0's hand stilled on Krieg's chest and his eyes widened slightly.

"Heh. I bet you didn't think I knew that." Krieg disclosed and gazed over at the assassin again. "Why did you leave those parts out?"

"I did not want to / fill your head with something that / you weren't ready for," Zer0 told him honestly.

"I get that," Krieg acknowledged. "But you wanna know what we _are_ ready for?"

"What?"

"This not being a benefits sort of deal," Krieg said making his intentions clear. "I know that we don't have to decide everything right now, but I'm _not_ sharing you."

"I think you already knew I'd like that," Zer0 said in a smug tone. Then, he laughed and added. "Hate to see what you / might do to someone like Rhys / in a jealous rage."

"Oh, man..." Krieg gave a deplorable groan. "I apologize for that. My imagination is my own worst enemy. I guess you're not mad at me anymore?"

"I wasn't mad at you / I was angry at myself / You saw right through me," Zer0 explained in a huff. As an assassin, he prided himself on being as unreadable as possible. He joked, "Just as next time I should watch what I say. I underestimated the scope of your literary expertise, Krieg."

"I know and it was _awesome_ ," Krieg flaunted cleverly. "I feel like I'm going to get a lot of that for the next while."

Zer0 imagined that to be true.

"You know… you should try me at a game of chess," Krieg offered, setting the bait. "I'll beat the pants off you."

At that, Zer0 chuckled.

"Oh, really…? I did / not take you for much of a / chess player, my friend," he said. "Challenge accepted – _only_ if you beat the pants off me."

"Don't make it easy," Krieg taunted.

With a scoff, Zer0 sidled up closer and Krieg drew him in, wrapping his arm around him as he placed his head on his shoulder.

Zer0 versed, feeling more content than he has in a long, long time. "Amid the chaos / You are my tranquillity / You always will be."

 _"Always…"_ Krieg murmured that one word again as a despairing thought overwhelmed him. "Please tell me that I won't lose you too. I can't shake this fear… it's… it's almost crippling."

"Understandable. / Your loss is great and profound. / Let me restore faith," the assassin said gently.

Needing that kind of comforting reassurance, Krieg gave Zer0 a hefty squeeze.

"I have a weird question," the assassin said.

"Shoot."

"Could the vault hunters / see _our_ naughty memories / whilst in your headspace?" Zer0 wondered curiously.

Psycho Krieg had the perfect comeback. "Uncharted cheese holes! Enter and their death cometh."

"Oh? You hid them away," Zer0 sounded so relieved. "Nice. I appreciate that."

Krieg was grinning like a maniac while the other enlightened carefully.

"Just so you know. We're only staying here for a few days – week tops. For now, I feel like I belong on Pandora," he said.

"I expect nothing less. You need to find yourself," Zer0 replied thoughtfully. "Gives me a reason / to visit Pandora and / help you kill some stuff."

Krieg laughed and teased with an innuendo. "Kill some stuff? Or… _kill some stuff?_ "

"Both."

"Murder all the birds at once!" The other Krieg roared and guffawed loudly.

"Hee-Hee. Sounds like fun," Zer0 wisecracked.

Just then, Zer0's ECHO device lit up on his nightstand with an incoming call and he groaned. "I bet it's Rhys."

"You should answer it, then," Krieg advised.

Zer0 shuffled over and pushed the speaker button.

"Hey, Zer0! It's Rhys. Watcha up to buddy? Just checking to see if you're coming in today," Rhys said in his cheerful, ready-to-work kind of way. "I'm dying to know how everything went with Krieg. How's he doing?"

Lying back on the bed, Krieg raised his brow.

"He's more than perfect," Zer0 said in a rather cheeky way. "He'll need Atlas clearance. Cool? / To avoid problems."

"'Clearance'," Rhys repeated. "What for…?"

Zer0 felt his face heat up a little bit. "He's staying with me / for a little while, until, / he gets things settled."

Krieg could not resist. "Good morning, Rhys Strongfork," he called out. "Don't worry. I'll be sure Zer0 gets to the office all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed."

Dead air floated over the ECHO for what seemed a painfully long time.

"Ohmygod-Ohmygod-Ohmygod!" Rhys suddenly blasted like a fast talker over the airwaves. "I've called at a bad time. Forgive me!" He paused for a breath. "Oh, I'm being rude. Hi, Krieg! Bye, Krieg!"

_Click._

Zer0 reached over and swatted at Krieg devilishly but the man just laughed and grabbed him, hauling him in close.

"You've scarred him for life / He was so unsuspecting," Zer0 said full of mischief, secretly loving it. "Couldn't help yourself, huh?"

"Nope," Krieg answered frankly.

Zer0 unravelled himself out of Krieg's hold. "I'm filthy and / desperate for a shower. / It is all your fault," he bantered.

Heaving a hopeless sigh but wearing a smirk, Krieg relented as Zer0 climbed out of bed. His eye took in, all six foot and four inches of, tightly toned assassin with an ass he wanted to sink his teeth into.

And speaking of ass, Krieg became aware of a wet sheen staining the back of Zer0's thighs and a leak that began dribbling down his leg.

The arousing sight made Krieg groan.

He watched Zer0 wander off towards the bathroom until he disappeared, then flopped back on the bed and shook his head. What a crazy forty-eight hours his life has been.

"Aren't you coming?" Zer0 called out to him.

Krieg sat up with a start.

"Scrub me with bristles!" the psycho hollered and excitedly launched them out of the bed.

They heard the assassin snickering in the other room. "Then get in here and / I'll scrub you two anywhere / you want. Permitting."

Krieg paused for a moment and shared a thought with his other half.

"I have a good feeling about all of this," sane Krieg said to the psycho before they headed for the shower. "You…?"

"Alive and well! And full of face pain!"

"Ha-ha! You said it, man."

* * *

**xx**

**xx**

**Bonus Haiku brought to you by Zer0!**

(I didn't use these haiku but I wrote them and thought I would share them with you anyways)

_x_

_Unspoken whispers / drift down like fallen petals / their edge sharp as blades._

_x_

_The lifeless mornings / the forsaken sleepless nights / please, take them away._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, should I keep going? You guys want more? :P
> 
> An amazing person made the fanart for this series!! Thank you so much Cellynoodle!! < 333
> 
> Oh! And I was playing Tales from the Borderlands and got to the end... where I realized that Zer0 might have been talking about Gortys when remarking in BL3 about his copied suit! It's just my theory... And, yes, Zer0 apparently watches sitcoms in his helmet - a reference from BL3 lol! He says it when walking away from him sometimes. 
> 
> This fic killed me. Took me 3 months to write and figure out the delicate subject of loss. I have opinions on how Gearbox wrote Krieg's plot so I really want to give him happiness and romance! Teee. Zer0... it's so yummy. But, it was really tough. I hope you like it.
> 
> Oh man... writing Krieg with two speaking personalities *headdesk* All his talking freaks me out lol! Zer0's place was inspired by GTA's High-End apartments layout :P
> 
> Thanks to anyone that reads this! If you'd like to ask any questions or message me feel free on my (therustycage.tumblr) Much love!


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